Sleds 1900-1945. By Wilfried Kopenhagen. Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 2000. Originally published as Waffen Arsenal-Deutsche Infantriekarren, Heeresfeldwagen und Heeresschlitten 1900-1945.
This short little book, nearly a large pamphlet really, details German military wagons and carts of various types from 1900 to 1945. It is a neat little book (48 pages) and well worth the 10 bucks it costs. It is mostly a collection of photographs, with some interesting text by the author, somewhat oddly translated from the German in which it was originally written.
As the book details, the German military used an amazing variety of horse drawn vehicles in the subject years. The varied types is amazing, and the photographs are quite intersting. I would never have thought of such things as horse drawn Observation Wagons for artillery, horse drawn stoves for the field kitchen, or horse drawn ovens for bakeries. Even a mule drawn mountain cart with small flak guns as cargo are depicted in a parade in Greece.
I mostly wanted this book as I was curious as to the World War II vehicles (many of which entered service many years before) but the WWI types were every bit as fascinating. The World War II material helps demonstrate, for its part, the degree to which the German Army was dependant upon horses, and the extent to which this aspect of the Wehrmacht is overlooked. Many seem to think that the entire German Army consisted of Panzer troops or machinegun toting storm troopers, but as this book demonstrates the soldier riding a draft horse pulling a wagon was every bit as much a part of the German military machine.
The variety of horse drawn vehicles used by the German military is frankly amazing, and somewhat ironically recalls the excessive creation of various types of motorized vehicles which operated to help prevent the Germans from effectively motorize. I have to wonder to what degree the variety of vehicles was unique to the German Army.
I wish that somebody would come out with a similar book for the US Army as it is an interesting and little analyzed topic.
Pat